Mark Helprin's critics--who mainly regard him as a political conservative and, therefore, a traitor to imaginative literature--have made him into a martyr. Here, he fends off the slings and arrows to say what he believes a writer to be, and describes the values he wants his work to embrace.

FROM THIS EPISODE

Mark Helprin's critics--who mainly regard him as a political conservative and, therefore, a traitor to imaginative literature--have made him into a martyr. Here, he fends off the slings and arrows to say what he believes a writer to be, and describes the values he wants his work to embrace.